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Proposed county budget calls for 2.6% tax increase

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 November 2025 at 9:30 am

Spending, up 1.2%, reaches $100 million for first time; Budget faces pressure from many fronts

ALBION – Orleans County officials are proposing a budget that would raise taxes by 2.6 percent in 2026.

The $100,261,320 proposed budget was filed on Friday by Jack Welch, the county’s chief administrative officer and also the budget officer.

Jack Welch

The budget tops $100 million for the first time. Spending is up 1.18 percent from the $99,092,747 in 2025 to $100,261,320.

The tax levy, what the county collects in taxes, increases by 2.60 percent or by $500,000 from $19,639,000 to $20,139,000. The tax rate is proposed to increase by 1.63 percent from $7.91 to $8.05 per $1,000 of assessed property.

The County Legislature will have a public hearing on the budget at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 3 at the Orleans County Legislative Chambers, 14016 Route 31.

“In recent years, I have raised concerns about how the Orleans County budget is influenced by ‘VUCA,’ meaning volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity,” Welch said in his budget message. “Unfortunately, these dynamics have not changed, and as such, the county remains under tremendous budget pressure.”

The spending plan doesn’t exceed the state-imposed tax cap. Welch said “a tremendous amount of work” by department heads, legislators and the budget team kept the tax increase at 2.6 percent and not much higher.

The budget is seeing a big increase in 730 competency restoration for people deemed unfit to stand trial. Those costs totaled $57,209 in 2023 and have already exceeded $1 million this year. The county has budgeted $1.5 million for the “730” costs in 2026, which is up from the $500,000 in this year’s budget.

“This trajectory is simply not sustainable and must be addressed by the New York State Legislature,” Welch said.

The budget also faces a nearly 21 percent increase in New York State retirement costs, due to a lower stock market evaluation on march 31, 2025, Welch said. The retirement costs are one of the nine state mandated programs which now account of 115 percent of the tax levy, Welch said.

“At the same time, we have made significant strides to reduce costs,” he said. “For 2026, with the agreement of our unions, we have changed our medical coverage from Highmark to NYSHIP’s Empire Plan. This change resulted in 6 percent decrease in our budgeted health insurance costs.  We have also continued our efforts to increase the hours in the work week for most of our employees from 35 hours to a 40 hours per week in an attempt to refrain from hiring more workers to cover the mandated services we are required to provide.”

The county also is projecting a $1.6 million increase in the local sales tax revenue. This year the sales tax receipts have been strong, nearly 8 percent ahead of 2024.

“As we present this to the Legislature, I am confident our proposed budget maintains core county services and programs in the most cost-effective manner possible, complies with the New York State property tax cap and provides funding for prioritized projects and programs while avoiding fiscal stress,” Welch said.

The budget keeps funding at the same levels for organizations providing services in the county including:

Cornell Cooperative Extension at $240,000; Orleans Economic Development Agency at $200,000; Soil & Water at $100,500, four public libraries to share $10,000; Mercy Flight at $5,000; Council of the Arts at $4,000; Cobblestone Museum, $3,000.

The budget includes $8,566,052 for capital projects:

Highway – $7,446,143 ($7,060,509 from state and federal governments)

  • Local bridge and culvert repairs, $50,000
  • Patch and seal county roads, $150,000
  • Highway reconstruction, $2,668,458
  • Eagle Harbor Knowlesville culvert, $865,000
  • Bridge Project #2, $2,375,500
  • Groth Road bridge replacement, $1,337,185

Buildings and grounds – $610,000 (all county cost)

  • Boiler pump (Public Square), $40,000
  • Pole barn, $150,000
  • Parking lot at DPW, $130,000
  • Elevator maintenance, $30,000
  • Air handlers (Treasurer and Probation), $50,000
  • Fiber loop, $210,000

Sheriff – $509,909 (All county cost)

  • Animal control for leased truck, $15,000
  • Fleet maintenance program: 2026, $105,000
  • Fleet maintenance program: 2024, $52,957
  • Fleet maintenance program: 2025, $106,800
  • Tasers lease (2024-2028), $45,575
  • 8×10 omega plate, $15,000
  • Jail – vests, $13,577
  • Jail – Axon Tasers lease, $6,000
  • Jail repairs, $150,000